I attempted Mt. San Antonio via Devil's Backbone with crampons and ice axe. The snow/ice provide good stability, but I had to turn back due to extreme wind. The wind was from the north, so I was protected on the south side of the ridge until a dip in the ridge just before the final ascent were the ridge drops and flattens out. There is no protection from the wind at that point. I proceded down into this drop, but was overwhelmed by the wind. I turned back and had great difficulty making my way back against the wind to the protected portion of the ridge. It was very stupid of me to be up there in that wind. I was glad to get off the mountian. I can see now how people die up there.

3rd time up the Mt, 1st winter ascent. Snow was great for climbing, no hardware needed til 8000ft, and after that solid snow for crampons. My partner and I climbed directly up the baldy bowl, aka the SE slope. Winds were blowing up top, gusts of 40+ nearly knocked me off my feet many times.

Icy conditions, beautiful day till afternoon when the storm came in. No luck on the missing hiker. Manker canyon is no short cut off the devil's backbone but there is a cool little waterfall near the bottom.

This is the best mountain in the San Gabriel range for anybody who has to get proper endurance training for higher peaks. I am referring to hiking up and down the SAME trail (6000 ft altitude difference). Baldy Village is less than an hour away by car from downtown LA and yet one encounters very few people during the hike.

First climbed Mt Baldy during a year of abundant precipitation in southern California so that I encountered lots of snow in the upper part of the mountain even late in June!

I went back to Mt Baldy many times for training and the day-long hikes served me well in preparation for loftier peaks, such as Mont Blanc, Grand Teton, Matterhorn and even Kilimanjaro.

We took the ski lift up to Baldy Notch, had some tea and then headed to the top. Snow was everywhere. I later regreted leaving my ice ax in my truck, but it was still doable without it with extra caution. We climbed the ridge which was in part challenging, but also fun. Later on the snow started to melt on the south side, but as we continued to higher elevation, it became more solid and we even found some patches of ice. We met a few climbers/hikers that day, none of them made it to the summit as far as I know. We too decided to turn around half way on the final summit approach. We were running out of time to get back to the ski lift, plus the wind started to pick up and it was rather chilly. We still managed to brew some tea and take pictures. On the way down, the snow was frozen in some places, but otherwise in good condition. We made it back to the ski lift in no time and were happy to spend such a great day in such a beautiful weather on the mountain.

I'd been looking up at Baldy all week while I was in Pomona for a trade show and since I had to work the weekend, I took this Monday off and got a little peak-bagging done!

Parked on the street in front of the ranger station in town and took off up the road on the left toward the trail. Fantastic old growth Incense Cedars - got to be about the biggest anywhere in this canyon.

The trail is a bit overgrown in places - had to squeeze sideways to avoid getting scratched up - more of our forest pass dollars NOT at work.

Made the summit in 4 1/2 hours - It was 102 in Ontario that day and the summit was a surprisingly cool 60 or so with a foot of snow or more in places on the top. Decided to make a loop out of it after talking to a couple of guys at the summit who told me what trail to take down to do that. Started back by going due south on a trail that then turned east and dropped down a steep slope. Ended up at Manker Flat and had to run about 4 more miles down the road to get to my car - A guy I passed on the trail and talked to briefly caught up with me and gave me a ride the last couple of miles - George, wherever you are - thanks! - I was really tired, whether I admitted it at the time or not!

Beautiful climb with only a couple of hikers on the way up. I got to the top just as the the winner in the 35th annual Mt. Baldy Run to the Top crossed the finish line. I was soon joined by more than 500 runners running up the trail from the ski lift. I descended against the tide tide of runners and was back at the car 4.5 hours after I started. This was my 100th County High Point.